The Forgotten Faith

The Ganga Aarti

                            ***
Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life.
-Buddha.
                            ***
It was a small park at the periphery of the city. On one side of it was a big lake which housed many ducks and lotuses and on the other side was a forest. The place was naturally beautiful, just modified a little by humans. Some benches were kept here and there for people to sit on and a fountain in the centre of the park.

“Good thing I came here. This is so refreshing.” I said.

Amar smiled. All this while I was thankful that he didn’t bring up the topic of last night. I wasn’t comfortable discussing that, now that I was in my senses. We were walking through the bushes that led to the lake. I always loved lotuses and seeing them in such a large number only boosted my mood further.

“You want to go and feed the ducks?” He asked.

“Sure!” I said.

Okay then, wait here and I will get you some duck food.” He smiled and left me standing near the lake.  I was enjoying the view and the fresh air, when suddenly I heard a sound. Someone was crying. I looked around to see who it was and found that on one of the benches was an old lady crying. I slowly walked towards her.

“What happened aaji?” I asked.

She looked up at me. Her eyes were swollen red.

“My son. He is in the hospital. How can a mother see her son dying?” She said and sobbed again.

“What happened to him?”

“He has blood cancer…last stage. I went around begging for blood for him just so that he can live. He is AB negative, a rare blood group and the doctors have said that if we give him that blood he might survive but I searched everywhere, didn’t find a single person with that blood type. How can I save my child?”

“I am so sorry aaji.” I said, feeling really bad for the lady.

“Aaji, my blood group is AB negative. I can donate blood.” Amar said as he approached us.

A smile broke on the ladies face as she wiped her tears and got up, “I will be forever grateful my child.” She said.

Amar just smiled at her.

                                                                                     ***

We were at the hospital where her son was admitted. His condition looked pathetic and seemed like he could die any moment. His poor mother went around begging for blood for her son just so that he could see another sunrise, that thought alone broke my heart.

“Are you the donor?” A nurse asked Amar.

“Yes.”

“Okay come with me.” She said.
Amar turned towards me and said, “I will be right back okay? And…don’t think much please.”

He then left with the nurse. ‘Don’t think much?’, how did he know that the hospital environment affected me so much? Amar and his lucky guesses were a mystery to me.

I decided to take a walk through the corridor. At the end of the corridor I found a small temple where all the deities were seated. They were frozen, made of stone and maybe they also had eyes and hearts made of stone that they couldn’t see the pain of the people in the hospital. After a few minutes of standing there, I went back to the ward.

“You are done?” I asked Amar who was standing outside the window, looking at the patient. 

“Yes.” He said. I went near and stood next to him.